NBA ditches leather basketball....

$1000 buys the same amount of stuff for me as it does for Stack. He just has more thousands, and thus, more nice stuff.

Bottom line, this sets a dangerous precedent if the NBA can fine with what is basically, reckless abandon. The fines are a big sticking point for the players union. It's one thing to screw the players around. It's another thing to start clawing back their earnings.

First, wouldn't it be nice if there was coverage of the Pistons like this?

Second, as to the ball. Seems to me that when announcing the change the league said that the ball had been evaluated and o.k.-ed by a group of players. Maybe I made that up, but I think I read it (but don't know where). And that it has been used in some contexts for some time, etc.

But, if true, then why isn't / hasn't the league specifically saying / said so over and over again? And if not true, then what in the world are they doing? Surely it must have been predictable that the players would react to any change in the game, and just as surely it must have been predictable that having a controversy just gives everyone a black eye and hurts the game.

The ball reportedly has effected guys like Chauncey, Nash, and Kidd who are some of the best passers in the league. I have not heard anything from Chris Paul, but those 3 guys are proof that the ball is bad for playmakers.

It's important not to miss the comment someone posted below the article claiming that the Rocket's owner and his wife had been divorced for years before the new ball and didn't seem to have had any contact in that time.

Sounds like their done goofing with materials...now they wanna screw with the number of panels on the leather one :nerd2:

The NBA will use leather basketballs in the NBDL next season, temporarily ending its attempts to re-introduce a composite ball at the NBA level, according to ESPN.com.

"We are committed to leather for the foreseeable future," said league spokesman Tim Frank. "We just realized leather is what our guys wanted."

The league introduced a composite ball at the start of the 2006-07 season, but after complaints that the balls became slick from perspiration and left tiny cuts on players' fingertips the league returned to leather in January 2007.

The plan now is to develop a two-paneled ball rather than the current eight-panel model.

I don't think that means there will be only two seams, just two panels underneath the skin. Someone smarter then me please correct me.

Click to expand...

I think panels and seams mean the same thing. I know Rawlings introduced a 10-panel ball a couple of years ago. The rationale is that more panels will give the player more seams to grip the ball when shooting, passing, or catching. I don't see how reducing the panels from 8 to 2 could actually improve the ball.